Chapter 15 - 14

Dimitri had been walking around the area of his hotel for a while when he decided to take a break at a small alcove that had a bench at the end.

He pinched the bridge of his nose to alleviate the headache that he knew was coming from thinking about her. Even after 5 years, he could still vividly recall her face and the feelings that seeing her for the first time had evoked.

Women do not easily attract him, most of them looked alike, with their curled up hair, made-up face, and heavily-perfumed aromas. There was nothing he hadn't seen before. But her innocence and vulnerability had broken down all his reservations about women.

He wanted to be with her again. That one night was not enough to satiate the hunger he never knew he had buried deep inside him. He wanted to worship her body again and again, in the bright of day and the darkest of nights. He would have her any way he could.

One cannot call him a romantic, he was as straight as a ruler when it came to his needs and wants. The first thought that came to mind when he saw her was that he was going to sleep with her, and that's what he did. Sex was just an act to satisfy the carnal desires of men and women.

But she had debunked all his ideologies regarding this sensual joining of bodies. Because somewhere along the way, it felt like when he had sex with her, they joined their hearts as well.

He had gone out to get some air, to think and sort out his feelings, thinking that she would still be asleep, but she was gone by the time he came back. Without a name to associate her with, he was at a loss. He had searched high and low, but he had never found her.

At first, he regarded his feelings as just lust. He did not have enough of her body, so he had craved more. And because she just left without confronting him, bruising his ego in the process, he was left wanting her more.

She had become an obsession these past years, but each day that passed by, he lost hope of finding her.

He tried to forget about her and move on. Eyeing Emily as his probable target, he thought she could free him from the invisible bond he had with the mysterious woman he had slept with that fateful night. But alas, even if Emily had the same build, the same hair color, and almost the same look, he could not erase Aurora from his mind.

She was the cog in the wheel fate had thrown into his carefully laid out life, and his memories of her haunted him day and night. Every time he had a quiet moment, her moans echoed in his head, and when he closed his eyes, her smile kept on taunting him, just like a movie reel caught on repeat.

Nobody else had seen her except for him. Cameras in the hotel that could have helped had been tampered with. Some days he thought she might just have been a figment of his imagination, given the drug he had ingested that day.

And today, when he thought he had seen her, she was nowhere to be found. She was like the elusive rare bird that everybody knows about, but nobody has seen.

He would dream about her at night, where she would smile and look at him lovingly, caressing his face where they ended with a kiss he would always search for when he woke up in the morning but the painful truth slapped him in the face. She was not there.

He lifted his head to the sky, and it was just as dark as his life, always waiting for the moon to shine its bright light.

Dimitri did not know that she was closer than he thought, and soon they would meet again.

Aurora and Lorenzo got on their bus, oblivious of the fact that had the bus been a few minutes late, Dimitri would have seen both mother and child at the bus station that he walked by earlier.

After the adventures he had for the day, Lorenzo was too tired to stay awake for the ride home. He had fallen asleep on her lap dreaming his kiddie dreams.

Aurora smiled and patted his head. He was such an energetic kid, so innocent and sweet, and she wished that he would always stay that way.

She was sorry that she had to wake him up when they reached their stop. He had such an angelic face when he was asleep. But until she got her own transportation, the bus was the best way for them to get around.

He fell asleep again even before she finished cooking dinner, and she had to wake him up again because if she didn't he would wake up in the middle of the night very hungry, and it would disrupt both their sleep schedule.

"Mommy, me sleepy, no eat, not hungry," Enzo said, half asleep.

"Oh no baby, it's not good to sleep with an empty stomach, you'll wake up again later. Come on, just take a little bite, then you can go back to bed," she said softly.

"Hmmm… hmm….," he mumbled.

"Where's mama's favorite baby, the sweetest baby in the world," she said as she nuzzled his neck, Enzo slowly opened his eyes and giggled. After a few more tickles, he sat up and hugged his mother, and rubbed his face on her neck.

"Enzo is mama's favorite baby," he said in a sweet tone.

"There you are, my favorite baby," she said as she planted a kiss on his head, "Come, let's eat. We're having chicken and vegetables, your favorite."

He was not a picky eater, and his favorite food was usually what his mom had prepared for the day, so she calls them all his favorite.

When he ate everything on his plate, even his veggies, he would look at his mom, waiting for a compliment.

"Wow! Enzo ate everything on his plate, even the veggies. Good job!" She praised him, to boost up his confidence. Being a single mom, she knew that he needed constant praise and reassurance.

To show his appreciation, Enzo kept bobbing his head in agreement, just like a cute puppy.

"Mama, tomorrow I want to play with Uncle Gabe," he said to remind her. She sighed, knowing that if she tried to stop him, he'd just try to escape from her.

"Baby, why do you like Uncle so much?" her curiosity was bugging her. He's never shown interest in other people before, so why now, and why him?

"Uncle Gabe is good, he's nice," he explained like it was obvious, and she should know that already.

She was glad that he was nice to Enzo, people always viewed kids as a nuisance, so it's hard to gauge how people would react to him most of the time. "Okay, you can see him tomorrow, but promise not to be too loud and don't bother him too much, he needs his rest," she warned him.

Gabriel was still a stranger, and he may be nice today, but nobody will know what will happen tomorrow. And he is still a patient at the hospital, his care is her utmost concern.

"Yes, mama. Enzo will be good," he promised as he made his way to the bathroom to take a bath and brush his teeth.

She let him play in the tub while she cleaned up in the kitchen. Some days she still can't believe how big he's grown, walking around and roaming on his own. She was so shaken this afternoon when she lost him, and she could not get it out of her mind. She just had to be firm with him next time, she thought.

"Enzo, I'm almost done here, are you finished soaping yourself?" she sat on the toilet after she was done to see if he needed any help. She ended up helping him rinse off and brush his teeth. He still liked to swallow his toothpaste, so she had to get the kid-friendly stuff.

When he settled down, she brought him one of his books, and before she could even finish the first page, he was already asleep.

Some days he would help her read, but tonight it seemed he was more tired than usual.